What To Expect From Marvel Phase 6

The first phase of the Marvel Cinematic Universe was fairly self-contained, which makes sense given that nobody could have possibly known that the MCU would continue on for years and years. It introduced Iron Man, Hulk, Thor, and Captain America in their own solo films, capping it off with the first "Avengers" movie. Phase 2 was a bit more open-ended, following the evolution of Thanos into a big enough antagonist that the entire MCU had to take him on in what served as the epic climax of Phase 3. 

Phase 4 was tasked with both introducing some of the new characters that would replace the departing OG Avengers, as well as laying the foundation for the Multiverse Saga that was to be the next big event for the MCU, encompassing the next three phases. We're currently smack dab in the middle of Phase 5, which is set to wrap up in 2025 and will conclude with "Thunderbolts*" on the big screen and the return of Daredevil on Disney+. Next year will also mark the transition between Phase 5 and Phase 6, which is presumably set to bring the Multiverse Saga to its conclusion. 

Only a few Phase 6 projects have confirmed titles and release dates, though several others are definitely coming in the next couple of years. Let's take a look at all of those, in addition to some that are only rumored — but seem more likely to hit Phase 6 than not. 

The MCU had a remarkable run for its first three phases, and it was able to pull off the impossible with "Avengers: Endgame" by delivering a climax worthy of 21 movies and 11 years of buildup. Phase 4 had the unenviable task of having to follow that up, and its report card featured several projects worthy of an F grade. Bright spots like "Spider-Man: No Way Home" and the inventive Disney+ series "WandaVision" were dulled a bit by disappointments like "Eternals" and "Thor: Love and Thunder." 

Thus far, Phase 5 has fared far worse overall, both critically and commercially. "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3" did decently enough at the box office, but "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania" underperformed and "The Marvels" is thus far the lowest-grossing MCU movie ever. The abuse allegations and subsequent firing of actor Jonathan Majors was also a major blow, as his character, Kang, was being positioned as the MCU's next Thanos-level threat. It's still unknown if Kang will be recast, or if the MCU will go in a different, Kang-less direction altogether — but it's worrisome that such important questions remain unanswered so close to Phase 6's official start in 2025. 

So far, the Avengers have served as the backbone of the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe — and it doesn't look like that's going to change much in Phase 6. While at least one other iconic Marvel hero team will make its debut during that era (more on that shortly), there are two confirmed "Avengers" movies coming in Phase 6, which seems to suggest that the MCU will continue to revolve around Earth's Mightiest Heroes for the foreseeable future. 

Of course, the Avengers are going to look very different in their next two cinematic offerings, given the death and/or retirement of several of the original members. The first of the two films is currently known as "Avengers 5" after its previous subtitle — "The Kang Dynasty" — was dropped as part of various major changes to the MCU that Marvel announced in early 2024. At this point, very little is known about the plot of "Avengers 5" or who will be in the cast, but it's currently aiming for a spring 2026 release. 

The following year, in May 2027, comes "Avengers: Secret Wars," which will likely adapt or at least draw inspiration from one (if not all) of the various comic events of the same name. Whether "Secret Wars" ends up being some huge "Endgame"-level climax, or one of the yet-to-be-announced Phase 6 films serves that purpose, remains to be seen. 

While some of the 20th Century Fox era of Marvel movies have — or soon will be — integrated into the Marvel Cinematic Universe in some form, the 2005 "Fantastic Four" movie and its sequel have remained wholly separate entities. Of course, one big reason for this is likely the fact that Chris Evans played Johnny Storm/the Human Torch in those films, which would have been a little complicated given that he already plays (now former) Captain America Steve Rogers in the MCU.

Other than John Krasinski's cameo as an alternate universe version of Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic in "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness," Marvel's "First Family" have yet to be properly introduced in the MCU. That's set to change in the summer of 2025 when "The Fantastic Four" arrives in theaters. In February 2024, Marvel revealed the principal cast of the movie by way of a valentine shared to social media, with art depicting Pedro Pascal as Reed Richards/Mr. Fantastic, Vanessa Kirby as Sue Storm/the Invisible Woman, Joseph Quinn as Johnny Storm/the Human Torch, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as Ben Grimm/the Thing. 

Additional cast members include Julia Garner as Shalla-Bal and Ralph Ineson as Galactus, with John Malkovich, Natasha Lyonne, and Paul Walter Hauser cast in undisclosed roles. We also don't know who is playing presumed antagonist Doctor Doom — sure to be a pretty major villain for the entire MCU in Phase 6 and perhaps even beyond. 

The divisive prequel "Black Widow" opened Phase 4 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe with more of a whimper than a bang. Luckily, it was followed up by "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings," which followed the tradition of "Doctor Strange" and "Black Panther" by taking the MCU in exciting new directions rather than just being a formulaic origin story. Only three months after the movie's September 2021 release, it was already confirmed that a sequel was in the works.

Unfortunately, updates about "Shang-Chi 2" were almost non-existent for a few years — followed by word that the soonest it would come out would be after the next "Avengers" movie. After that, things went quiet yet again. Finally, in April 2024, star Simu Liu responded to some fans on social media asking about the "Shang-Chi" sequel and wondering if it was one of the MCU projects that had been quietly canceled. "I promise it's happening," Liu said on Threads. That's not exactly a release date, but it's as good a confirmation as any that "Shang-Chi 2" is still on the way. Until we hear otherwise, there's no reason to assume that it couldn't be a Phase 6 project.

Avengers villain-turned-ally Simon Williams — aka Wonder Man — was originally going to be first acknowledged by the Marvel Cinematic Universe way back in 2017. In the comics, Simon Williams is also an actor, and fictional movie posters of his work were to be seen in background shots of "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2," with Williams portrayed by Nathan Fillion. All footage of Fillion as Simon was cut from the final film, though "Guardians" writer-director James Gunn said at the time that Wonder Man might still join the MCU in the future.

That future is apparently getting close, as a "Wonder Man" miniseries for Disney+ was already said to be in post-production as of April 2024. Though we still don't know a release date, there have yet to be any officially confirmed MCU Phase 6 television shows — meaning any shows or miniseries that are currently in production and aren't already determined to be part of Phase 5 are very likely going to fall within Phase 6. 

Fillion is no longer playing Wonder Man, with actor Yahya Abdul-Mateen II now playing the title character. Comic book adaptation fans may know Abdul-Mateen as Black Manta from the two "Aquaman" films or as the HBO "Watchmen" series' version of Doctor Manhattan. Ben Kingsley is also slated to reprise the role of Trevor Slattery on the series, with Ed Harris rumored to be making his MCU debut as Simon Williams' agent. 

When we last left Wong, he was the MCU's current Sorcerer Supreme. Portrayed by actor Benedict Wong, Wong has been a fan-favorite side character with roles in six films, as well as a funny turn in "She-Hulk: Attorney at Law" and several appearances in "What If...?" He was last seen on the big screen in 2022's "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" — but since that film and "She-Hulk," all has been quiet on the Wong front.

Comicbook.com asked Benedict Wong in March 2024 about the lack of news regarding his character. While he initially gave the usual vague "I can't really say," he followed it up with a much more promising, "Something's looming. Something's looming." Maybe he knows something, maybe he doesn't, but he certainly didn't say that nobody has reached out to him or there's nothing in the works that he knows of, or anything else along those lines.

Given Wong's strong connection to the multiverse as the Sorcerer Supreme, and with Phase 6 supposedly wrapping up the MCU's Multiverse Saga, it seems pretty likely that we'll see either a Wong solo project or something that heavily focuses on the MCU's various sorcerers within the next few years.

"Armor Wars" was originally announced in 2020 as a Disney+ series focusing on James "Rhodey" Rhodes/War Machine, with Don Cheadle confirmed to reprise his role. A certain pandemic also hit the world in 2020 and put a lot of entertainment projects on the back burner, apparently including "Armor Wars," as nothing else was said about it for two years. 

In 2022, Marvel revealed that "Armor Wars" had switched from a Disney+ series to a movie, with filming planned to begin in early 2023. Since then, things have again been extremely quiet — to the point that some have begun to wonder if "Armor Wars" has in fact been junked altogether. Within the first few months of 2024, rumors began to bubble up that 2025 will finally see the movie officially begin production. 

Meanwhile, Sam Rockwell stated in multiple interviews that he'd be interested in returning as "Iron Man 2" villain Justin Hammer if the MCU would have him. Hammer definitely seems like a safe bet as an antagonist for "Armor Wars," but it's discouraging that Rockwell apparently hasn't been asked to do it — unless he has and he's just being coy. "Armor Wars" remains one of the MCU's biggest question marks among its already-announced projects, but it could still end up being one of the three planned 2026 MCU films that have yet to be revealed.

Another MCU project that feels like it should have come out already, given how long ago it was announced, is "Blade." The half-vampire vampire hunter was originally played by Wesley Snipes in a trilogy of movies released between 1998 and 2004, but it would seem as though Marvel Studios is choosing not to incorporate anything from that series for the character's MCU debut. Actor Mahershala Ali will take over as the character, joining the list of actors who have played more than one role in the MCU, as he previously portrayed the villain Cottonmouth in the series "Luke Cage."

Ali was officially cast as Blade way back in 2019, though COVID, the actors' and writers' strikes, various production issues, and creative struggles have plagued the project in the ensuing five years. As of now, the movie has its director, its script, and most importantly, its release date — November 7, 2025. Barring any more unforeseen problems or further shuffling of the schedule, "Blade" will be the second Phase 6 movie after "The Fantastic Four" and the character will be poised to partake in whatever big climactic events are set to occur in the two Phase 6 "Avengers" movies. 

We know for a fact that a project built around intergalactic police officer Richard Rider/Nova is in the works. We also know that it's being written by Sabir Pirzada, who previously worked on both "Moon Knight" and "Ms. Marvel." What we don't know is whether this project is going to be a movie or series, only that it's going to be on Disney+ and is being referred to as a "special presentation." Could this be the MCU's first direct-to-TV movie? 

Nova himself has yet to show up in the MCU or be adapted to live-action, though he previously appeared in the animated series "Ultimate Spider-Man" and "Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy." However, other members of the Nova Corps have played roles in the MCU, most notably Nova Prime Irani Rael (Glenn Close) in "Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 1." Whether the upcoming project will be about more members of the Nova Corps or mostly just Nova himself remains to be seen, but the group's intergalactic presence would intersect nicely with the upcoming MCU debut of characters like Silver Surfer and Galactus — which makes it more likely than not that Nova's introduction will also happen in Phase 6.

The Disney+ "Ironheart" series is currently slotted in the schedule for Phase 5. Set to focus on Riri Williams (Dominique Thorne), who first became the armored hero during the events of "Black Panther: Wakanda Forever," the six-episode miniseries is set to hit Disney+ in 2025, though an actual date has yet to be confirmed. While 2025 is the transition year between Phase 5 and Phase 6, as previously mentioned, none of Phase 6's TV projects have been announced.

But it's not out of the realm of possibility for a project to change phases. After all, this already happened when "Thunderbolts*" and "The Fantastic Four" swapped places after "The Fantastic Four" was delayed beyond its originally planned Phase 5 debut. Phase 6's "Thunderbolts*" was moved ahead in order to fill the hole in the Phase 5 film schedule. While nothing has suggested that this is going to happen with "Ironheart," the fact that Phase 6 has no official presence on Disney+ yet means that it's quite possible for something that is already completed or nearly ready to be nudged back just a bit, in order to help fill out Phase 6's thin lineup. 

The X-Men have slowly been creeping into the Marvel Cinematic Universe to varying degrees, most notably via that Professor X (Patrick Stewart) cameo in "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness." But "Deadpool and Wolverine" will finally integrate the X-Men officially into the MCU. Not only does Deadpool himself have a long history with the team, but Hugh Jackman reprising the role of Logan in the movie formally makes Wolverine a member of the MCU — along with Colossus, Negasonic Teenage Warhead, Yukio, Cassandra Nova, and whatever other surprises the movie might have in store for other X-Men and X-Men-adjacent characters.

Between "Deadpool and Wolverine" and the well-received "X-Men '97" animated series, Marvel's mutant team are definitely having a moment. But when will a dedicated MCU "X-Men" movie finally happen? It seems a long way off given that it hasn't been officially announced yet, and it might get a little crowded having three big teams — the Avengers, the Fantastic Four, and the X-Men — all play a big role and star in their own movies in Phase 6. That's to say nothing of teams like The Marvels, The Eternals, et al and how or even whether they'll fit into the Multiverse Saga over the next couple of years. But again, there are still three planned but unnamed MCU movies slated for 2026 — and it isn't impossible for one of those to star the X-Men. 

Given that the start of Phase 6 of the MCU is over a year away and Phase 5 is still unfolding, there's plenty of time for more things to be revealed. On any given day, some rumor or supposed leak suggests various things in the works for Phase 6 and beyond that have yet to be officially announced. For instance, Chris Hemsworth has spoken about his disappointment in how he played Thor in "Thor: Love and Thunder" and how much he'd like a chance to go out on something better — which seems to suggest that a fifth "Thor" movie wouldn't be out of the question. Maybe it could be squeezed in before "Avengers 5"? 

Since the return of Tobey Maguire's Peter Parker in "Spider-Man: No Way Home," the long-rumored fourth Sam Raimi Spidey movie has re-entered the conversation. Thomas Haden Church, who played Sandman in both "Spider-Man 3" and "No Way Home," told the New York Post in March 2024, "Sam Raimi is doing, from what I've heard, he's going to do another stand-alone 'Spider-Man' movie with Tobey." Depending on whether that's true, and how far along such a project might be (Haden might also be confusing it with Tom Holland's in-development fourth "Spider-Man" movie), it's not out of the realm of possibility for it to be out by the end of Phase 6 in 2027. After all, neither Raimi nor Maguire are getting any younger.